navel

Pluralnavels

Formsnavels

1. 1
   nouncountable

   The small dent in the middle of your belly, left where the cord joined you to your mother before birth.

   Like the spot on a balloon where it was tied off.

   She has a faint scar just above her navel.

   The baby's navel healed about a week after birth.

   Similarbellybutton, umbilicus

   Note
2. 2
   nouncountable

   The center or middle point of something.

   Like the middle of a wheel where every spoke meets.

   The market sits at the navel of the village, where every road meets.

   Critics called the final chapter the navel of the whole story.

   Similarcenter, heart, hub, core

   Oppositeperiphery

   Note
3. 3
   nouncountable

   A sweet, seedless orange with a small bump on one end that looks like a belly button.

   She peeled a juicy navel and shared the slices.

   These navels are sweeter than the oranges we bought last week.

   Note
4. 4
   nounhistoricalcountable

   A metal ring under an old ship's cannon, used to fasten it to its stand.

   Like a metal loop you can hook a rope through.

   Sailors threaded a rope through the navel to hold the cannon steady.

   The old gun's navel had rusted shut over the years.

   Note
5. 5
   verbliterarytransitive

   Of a building or feature, to sit right in the middle of a wide stretch of land.

   Like a button sitting right in the center of a shirt.

   A single oak tree seems to navel the open field.

   Old churches often navel the villages that grew up around them.

   Note

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